National News

Crowds Exploded Under Pope Francis

(NEWSER) – Pope Francis drew more than 6.6 million people to his audiences, Masses, and other Vatican events in 2013, more than twice as many as his predecessor Benedict XVI did in his first year as pope in 2005—2.85 million. The statistics released yesterday cover only events held at the Vatican starting from Francis' March 13 election, meaning the estimated 3.7 million who attended his final World Youth Day Mass in Rio, among other events, don't count toward that total. Further, the Vatican saw 2.35 million visitors in 2012, per Quartz, which points out nearly three times as many visitors showed up in just the last 9.5 months.